A choice

Solid rail near the ramp but also allocating handrail usage near the steps. This photo indicates that the ramp is for wheelchair users, people with prams, walking difficulties, and so forth. The steps could have been eradicated but have been kept, in order to give people the choice, and the steps take up a larger ground space than the ramp, which has obviously been put in to comply with disability laws and so forth; this can be ascertained by the fact that the entrance up to the steps is only as wide as the ramp itself, but where the steps occur the steps cover a wider entrance point than the ramp. Half of the ground space has effectively been removed in order to allocate the ramp; but the steps have also been left, which in itself is an enigma, since able-bodied and disabled can both use a ramp, therefore there is no need for the steps. Where steps and ramps are found, in unison, an able-bodied person, even if there is no-one else about, will tend to use the steps, indicating that society avoids using structures that in theory have been put in place for the use of other people, i.e. disabled. This is a very common occurrence and a subtle way in which society is primed to behave.